Assertion Supported AI assessment confidence: 85% certainty 5/5 debate potential 1/5

A Singapore bookshop bought 1,000 copies of Lonely Planet's second guide

Tony Wheeler · Lonely Planet: Maureen & Tony Wheeler · May 8, 2017 · at 20:43

Lonely Planet co-founder Tony Wheeler recounts pitching their second travel book, 'Southeast Asia on a Shoestring', to a major bookseller in Singapore in the 1970s.

0:00 / 0:21exact quote · 21.1s
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“I saw him writing Southeast Asia on a shoestring in the, on the order form, and then write some number down. And he spun the order around and pushed it across the desk to me, and he bought a thousand copies. You know, I walked out of that that office you know, a foot above the ground and raced back to the hotel and said to Maureen, we've sold 20% of our print run to one bookshop.”

quote is from the automated transcript, cleaned for reading: filler sounds and stutters are removed, nothing is rephrased. names can be misheard (the analysis reads context, assessments check outside sources). how →

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Insight
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Assertion Partly supported
Tony Wheeler: Lonely Planet sold 100,000 copies of its India guidebook
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Assertion Supported
The first Lonely Planet guidebook was 96 pages and cost $1.80
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Tony Wheeler May 8, 2017 ▶ 14:50 Lonely Planet: Maureen & Tony Wheeler
Assertion Partly supported
Lonely Planet's India guide sold 100,000 copies at $12 to $14
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Assertion Not checkable as stated
Lonely Planet's early success rode baby boomer travel trends
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Disclosure
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